Astronaut Rick Mastracchio took a selfie while he was on a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. Like a space-traveling tourist, the astronaut quickly posted the self-taken photograph to social media.
With Mastracchio smiling the foreground of the photo, the Earth can be seen beneath the astronaut. The Connecticut native posted the spacewalk selfie on Twitter just hours after re-entering the orbiting outpost.
Mastracchio took the photo while outside the station, replacing defective equipment on the outside of the space station, along with Steven Swanson. After the pair finished their task, they spent some time taking photographs, including the selfie that is generating so much attention on social media.
Other photographs taken by the space-faring pair include the Dragon spacecraft attached to the station, and Mastracchio in front of the Japanese modules. Those photos of the astronaut were taken by Swanson. Astronauts were in the shadow of the space station, with backlight coming from the planet beneath them, adding to challenges taking photographs.
"The space suit makes it very difficult to get a good selfie. I tried several today," the 54-year-old tweeted.
Designing cameras that could be operated by people in spacesuits was one of the challenges of the early space program.
Mission cameras to record information on the flight of spacecraft have existed since the earliest unmanned journeys to the edge of space. In 1962, astronaut Walter Schirra carried his Hasselblad 500C on the Mercury 8 mission. The groundbreaking images returned by the astronaut convinced NASA of the importance of non-technical photography during space missions.
In December 1968, a Hasselblad 500 EL camera rode along for the journey, allowing astronauts to take images from near the Moon for the first time in history. The same model of camera was also aboard the next two missions in the series. When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin touched down on the lunar surface in 1969, the mission had a pair of the cameras. A specially designed version of the camera, the 500 EL Data Camera, was used to take photographs on the surface of the moon.
Even after taking time to take photographs, the extra-vehicular activity (EVA) was one of the shortest in the history of NASA, lasting just one hour and 36 minutes. After their return to the station, the astronauts were given a health examination by Commander Koichi Wakata. The pair was found to be in excellent health.
Due to challenges taking the EVA self-photo, Mastracchio had to take several shots. The astronaut told Swanson his arms were too short to take a good selfie.
